What's it all about?

40 nights for the orphans of India. My 'Lent in a Tent' is about raising hugely needed funds for 'Shining Faces in India' orphanage in Salem, Tamil Nadhu, by sleeping ouside the Chaplaincy at King's Bruton for 40 nights. My target is at least £10,000 - which amazingly is only enough to feed the hundreds of children there for about two months.I hope that many might be inspired to trade 40 pounds for my 40 nights. Actually, in the back of my mind I'm convinced that we could smash through the target and go much much further ... I wonder.

Saturday, 2 March 2013

Water, power, food, sleep ... night 25/40

Well I promised last night that I'd get some details to you about priority work needing to be done out at the orphanage that our funds can now make a reality, so here we go ... watched over by the children soon to benefit ...

The main needs fall into four areas ... water, power, food and sleep.

Water: The installation of two commercial-capacity reverse osmosis water
purification systems for the boys' and girls' hostels. These will deliver plenty of clean cool water for all the dry mouths that need it. (£3000)

Power: The extension of underground cabling from the main
back-up generator to the boys hostel and new dining hall. As Jayaraj, founder of the orphanage
writes, "Boys really suffer lack of electricity during nightly power cuts." The power cuts out predictably every night and currently the boys have to re-site to other areas of the campus that are covered by the back-up. (£1300)

Food: The construction of a building to house the new steam cooking
equipment, and the installation of this modern cooking system and pipework. This will mean safer cooking and a more healthy variety of food. It also means the new dining hall, recently decorated by our latest team, could become fully functional and fill like it did for the celebration meal taken there when the painting was done. (£3000)

Sleep: Jayaraj tells me, "A cot (bed) is something that kids will enjoy having for
themselves. All the kids would have never slept in a cot with a mattress on.
This will be a great blessing to them ...". We aim to provide 50 double beds &
mattresses, plus sheets and pillows for 4 small children per large steel bed. (£5000)

That makes roughly £12,500 ...

BUT ... if we could go on climbing higher with funds from others still wanting to join in, there's a new and significant need ...

A change in Government regulations means that a new bathroom block must be built nearer the boys' hostel. I hope to receive costings from Jayaraj soon. This could be done from funds already raised,
but then one or more of the hoped-for projects above would need to be left
undone.

I wonder if we could use the momentum of this Lent in a Tent to sling-shot beyond where we are now, and on to a new bathroom block too? Possible? I'd say it is.